Read President Rob M. Simpson's 2025 Annual Meeting Remarks

 

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for being here to celebrate our continued transformation as a region. Throughout our decades long journey together so many forces have been brought to bear on this place we call home – the forces of time, of global markets, of industrial transformation and demographic change to name just a few. The pressures placed upon each of us, and our communities have been relentless and intense.

And yet here we are. All the same elements of our narrative and personality remain. We are hard-working people. We care for our neighbors. We are a prideful, independent and largely self-sufficient group capable of great things. But the vast socio-economic forces that pulled against us for decades, and the intense cauldron that we find ourselves in amid our hard-earned growth moment, have changed us. Are changing us. Undoubtedly, will continue to change us. In a process similar to a metamorphic rock that emerges from eons of intensity inside the earth’s crust as something familiar, but different. Same mineral composition. But with new bonds that have crystalized and interlocked, making it stronger, more resistant to abrasion and with new traits and beauty to show the world.

This is our theme for our meeting this year – metamorphic – and we are excited to put our current transformation into context.

But first some thank yous.

To Annabel and Waymo, thank you for bringing your story to Syracuse and for pioneering technology that is changing mobility for people everywhere, be it women who might feel safer in a rideshare without a driver or members of our rural communities where transportation services are economically challenged. We should have this important debate around autonomy and safety and then we should change state law and embrace this new technology like the innovative and future-focused place we tell the world we are.

Creating a region where business thrives, and all people prosper. That is the flag we have placed just over the horizon. Our North Star. In the annual report in front of you, we have outlined how our incredible staff at CenterState CEO are making progress toward that vision through a combination of passion, sacrifice, and the support of our family and friends. One sacrifice that I am making this year is that I will not be sharing a story about my son, Ben, for the first time in 13 years. Instead, Ben is here with us today for the first time, which is a trade I gladly accept.

I want to thank our members, community partners, Board and Executive Committee for your leadership and, in particular, David Schneckenberger, who is completing his third and final year as the Chair of our Board. I can say with certainty that your lifetime of commitment to this organization and our work, and your simple human decency and integrity, are traits that I greatly admire and will always seek to emulate.

Perhaps the most recognizable form of metamorphic change is how intense pressure can take carbon, the fundamental building block of life itself, and transform it into diamonds. Such is this year’s metaphor for Central New York.

More than 70 years of population decline. Significant erosion of median income which lowered our standard of living far below the national average. Entire sectors of our economy, like manufacturing, which had become synonymous with our industrial – era success – decimated by tectonic shifts in global markets. All of these pressures exacted not only an economic toll, but wove its pernicious roots into our very homes and the stories we tell each other around the dinner table and the dreams we dared to have or allowed to slip away like generations of children and families who had no choice but to pursue life elsewhere. In search of opportunity.

And even more recently, in the early 2000s, my reentry point to this long-narrative arc. Carrier. New Venture Gear. Syracuse China. A downtown hollowed out by wave after wave of regional banking consolidation that further swept wealth, jobs and pride from a people and place that once had all three in abundance.

And yet, battered with the full force of these macro-economic factors, we still spent more time fighting each other, even within the business community, than banding together to brace ourselves against these headwinds and take even a small, tentative step forward. Until one day when we did.

We need not repeat the details of our civic dysfunction, but we should not forget its depth. We were not organized for success. And even as a vision began to emerge of how to reposition our economy for the 21st century, we had neither the unanimity of purpose nor the resources to successfully reclaim our seat at the table where global prosperity was being divided and distributed to those that had the wherewithal to buy-in.

Absent any meaningful alternatives, civic leaders like Chancellor Buzz Shaw and Darlene Kerr and Mary Ann Tyzko and Pat Mannion and Mark Viggiano and Susan Crossett and Larry Bousquet did the thing that needed doing. They distilled and then crystallized the very mineral composition of our business and civic community from a loose confederation of warring states into a new organizing framework that we now know as CenterState CEO, 15 years ago next month.

We can debate the impact of that one decision on what has transpired since, but one thing is certain – our business community demonstrated agency in the face of adversity. Even the full weight of those socio-economic pressures didn’t break us. It tried, mind you. Took a real human toll. But it also revealed something important about us – our strength and resilience and determination. We stand here today able to reflect on that fading Polaroid of a snapshot in time more united than ever, stronger, shining more brightly and more successful than any of us might have ever imagined.

Success brings with it new pressures, though, doesn’t it? If what we have just come through was a long, slow burn that intensified over decades, what we are facing now is an entirely different sort of change and disruption. It will be more sudden, dramatic – jolting even – in its scale and impact.

Exhibit A – The CNY economy is expected to grow more in the next three years than in the past 16 years combined. Think about that. For a region accustomed to slow and steady growth, this wave of new investment is going to hit us hard and fast. By November of this year, construction on Micron’s first fab will be underway. By next year, dozens of cranes and thousands of new construction workers will be near-permanent fixtures in Clay. Within three years, thousands more engineers and technicians will be earning six-figure salaries, and all that capital will be circulating inside our regional economy. And that is just for one fab. Of four. A 5x increase in our normal rate of growth will be felt throughout every part of our social and economic system.

Exhibit B – Not only is our rate of growth about to change dramatically, but on a relative basis – think total new investment into the size of a regional economy – what Central New York is about to experience is unparalleled in the United States. Maybe not in all our 249 years of history, but certainly in recent memory. In fact, the scale of this investment as a proportion of our economic output is nearly FIVE TIMES LARGER than the next closest competitor, benefiting from this wave of reshoring and advanced manufacturing. I don’t say this to scare anyone in this room – after all, WE DID THAT.

Our prideful, persistent little place elbowed its way not just to the table, but to the head of the table. But I can assure you our peers around the country are awestruck by the opportunity and challenge that our region faces, and we must be clear-eyed about it as well.

Exhibit C – This uniquely powerful growth moment comes amid the backdrop of the single largest disruption to the geopolitical world order most of us have ever experienced with higher levels of economic uncertainty from consumers and business leaders than we have seen in decades. Tariffs, trade wars, actual wars and shifting alliances just add to the uncertainty and to the intensity of the moment. This period of disruption, however you feel about it, IS our present reality and will have effects that are both profound and lasting.

Absorbing all this economic energy, channeling it strategically in a manner consistent with our values, and staying calm amid the storm is, and will remain, the defining challenge for both current and future generations of leaders in Central New York.

Because this moment must be met.

We have worked for decades to bring jobs and opportunities back to this community. As a result of our collective efforts, we need to fill thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs to meet demand for Micron, I-81 and other major projects throughout our region. 5,000 new family-sustaining careers are available in our backyard. We cannot miss this chance.

Moreover, manufacturing and tech account for more than 40,000 current jobs in our market, or 11% of the total workforce. 32 of the 37 occupations in these sectors have job openings today and that demand will only grow as the pace of our economic acceleration picks up. Moreover, these labor demands are not unique to these sectors – health care, transportation and education are all under intense pressure right now as well.

We have said for years that economic growth is no guarantee of a greater measure of shared prosperity, but it is a necessary precondition for it. Working together with partners in the private sector, the building trades, not-for-profits and in government, we can finally and reliably welcome new entrants into our labor market, use this opportunity to create pathways to economic mobility and reduce generational disparities in income and wealth all while providing the fuel to the private sector engines of our economy.

To increase access to construction careers, Syracuse Build, Pathways to Apprenticeship, and Vehicles to Work are growing in Syracuse and being replicated around the Central New York region. To prepare people for manufacturing, our pilot Bridge to Manufacturing Careers is bringing partners together with Onondaga Community College to help diverse, talented local residents prepare for high-paid and high-demand technician roles.

And the flagship ON-RAMP training center that will be built at 1300 South Salina Street will be a physical hub and spoke network for all these programs and more. Led by industry, and together with all our partners in education and workforce development, we are creating engaging ways for community members to learn about these high growth careers and connecting them to the training and support needed to succeed.

Similar partnerships and creativity are required to unstick our housing market, which simply does not have enough supply to accommodate all the people who live here today, let alone the tens of thousands of people who will move here in the coming decade. We cannot meet the moment when a mere 1% of the residential neighborhood land in Onondaga County, outside of the City of Syracuse, is zoned for multi-family development without a special permit. Single family homes will not get us there. It will not work. Across the region, we need an emphasis on better education, planning and rezoning that allows for multiple new modalities of housing if we are going to avoid debilitating sprawl that could strangle the very growth we have fought for.

And with construction and borrowing costs at levels that are very high by recent standards, we need to advance financing innovations as well to engage more of the private sector – our developers and financial institutions – to pool and deploy more capital, explore modular and prefabricated housing solutions, reduce risk and development timelines and build more, and more affordable, housing as fast as we can.

All this growth will exert significant demand pressure on our electric grid, underscoring the need for strategic investment and modernization. In Central New York, we enjoy some of the cleanest electricity in the country. 92% of the electrons powering your homes or charging phones are carbon free. In that regard, we are already leading the nation thanks to a robust mix of hydro, solar, wind and nuclear power generation.

However, the pace of expected development and load demand necessitates a parallel acceleration in clean energy generation and transmission such as Constellation Energy’s efforts to build more nuclear capacity in Oswego and National Grid’s Upstate Upgrade. As importantly, it requires our policy makers and those that influence them to take a clear-eyed view of the economic and human costs of pushing too hard and too fast on decarbonization and electrification goals. Ideology won’t pay an electric bill that becomes unaffordable and environmental advocates – of which I consider myself to be one – cannot provide for energy redundancy, power quality and the kind of reliability that businesses need to make investment decisions and consumers depend on. But they can support it by allowing data and pragmatism to drive the implementation of the CLCPA, not politics.

Dreaming, creating, building what comes next. Solving problems together. That ability to look beyond our immediate horizon at a brighter future has been our superpower as a region. The key is less about what we innovate and more about our ability to keep innovating. Always.

Think about where we began this journey together. With the deck stacked against us. And consider for a moment just how far we have come together, shedding tired narratives and crafting one that is more befitting of a place with this much history and pride.

As we reflect on this unprecedented moment of opportunity and challenge, never forget that we have faced intense, near-crippling pressures before. And amid it all, we are a people that turned this, into this.
  [then and now images of downtown Syracuse]

This into this.
  [then and now images of negative/positive media headlines about the region]

This, into this.
  [before and after image of collapsed parking garage/former Tech Garden location and newly expanded Innovation Hub business incubator]

Now just imagine where we might end up if we can once again turn the heat and fire of all these market forces and pressures around us today into fuel for our future prosperity and growth.

The future is ours to write. And we want every human in every successive generation in Syracuse to feel invited to help write it. Which is why, as we prepare to reopen the new Innovation Hub later this summer, we felt strongly that the days of planting seeds for our future economy were behind us. We did that. It worked. Today’s task is far different. We must reach for that thing, just over the horizon – that better, more equitable, more audacious version of ourselves. Which is why we couldn’t be more excited to finally reveal both the Innovation Hub’s new name, and its bold new vision…

To the thousands of innovators and small businesses owners who might someday walk through the door of this new facility, which will be the largest business incubation and acceleration space in all of New York State when it re-opens, we want you to feel supported in such a way as to make you feel comfortable committing a part of your soul to these ventures. Not just to committing words to a page in the form of a business plan, but to bringing something deeply moving and even a little vulnerable to the task. To pitch your idea as if to a loved one or a lifelong friend. To show up in a way for this exercise as if you were gifting the world the witness of your dreams and carving them into stone with purpose.

And while this new building is intended to be the literal hub for our region’s growing entrepreneurial community, it is meant as a metaphor for us all. Friends, this moment calls not just for effort but for passion and purpose. It calls for each one of us to bring the most inspired version of ourselves to the table we have set, sleeves rolled up, pencil behind the ear, ready to create. Ready to show the world the unyielding toughness and beauty of a place that has been through it and emerged unbroken. Stronger. No longer afraid to unfurl the full breadth of our aspirations and ready – no eager – to give it our very best.

That is our dream for this building and OUR gift to you. A monument to the very best that this region has to offer the world, especially that which has yet to be manifest. The products of our future and collective inspiration. To the horizon we go. Over. And again.